4 0 o p 1\ M ONDAY, JOHN F. KENNEDY AIR- PORT The Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa lands around 11 A.M., after a thirteen-hour flight from Tokyo, for a visit as the guest of the Japan Society, whose Film Center is about to put on a two-month retrospecti ve of K uro- sawa's movles-twenty- six, all told. Kurosawa emerges into the Japan Air Lines reception area: seventy-one years old, six feet tall, slightly stooped, gray-haired; wearing dark-tinted, horn-rimmed glasses, a dark-green- and -tan plaid wool sports jacket, a tan silk shirt, a necktie patterned in brown and beige, wrinkled tan slacks, and well-worn brown shoes; carrying a smal1 brown leather-and-canvas bag; and looking expectant. Accompanying him is Teruyo Nogami, who has been his chief production assistant for the past thirty years-from the time he made "Rashomon," in 1950. She is a short, chubby woman with wild, frizzy black hair, and her expression is dead- pan. She is wearing floppy gray flannel pants and a brown leather jacket with tassels. Greeting Kurosawa on behalf of the Japan Society is Peter Grilli, the director of the Film Center-a stocky, sharp-eyed, friendly, J apanese-speak- ing American in his late thirties. His father, Marcel Grilli, who is a music critic for the Japan Times, an En- glish-language newspaper in Tokyo, took Peter there to live at the age of five. Peter attended the American School in Tokyo, Harvard University, and Tokyo University. He started the Film Center about three years ago. He is obviously very intelligent and very fluent in Japanese. With Grilli are David Owens, another thirtyish Japa- nese-speaking American-from In- diana, and open-faced, sandy-haired, with a hearty air-who works as Grilli's assistant, and Audie Bock, a rangy, authoritative young woman with a mop of ringlets on her head. 't ? " (10 ) (Þ- .. . ! . \ \ . " N \> · ; il '\ \ '} '? \ , / 1 . ., i , If \ <' ,d?4 { ___ o F I KUR.OSA W A FR.AMES - /.. . '^ ,.- / / .: " .. .@';1 .. /' -Jf ... :.- /! ... '\. , .,. -. to{ ß . J. .;-. .. ' .. j i , It-' t." .. )f ;./ . ,. >'" , ",<,ý /N ,..-. /---.,,. -/ /'" ,/ ;'."* '>4:t:;:. / -,; / . f,/J / y /. -'" "x . '" ,;. ø .-/ J. / ..". Z .:"", -;; \ t \ . " She is from Berkeley, California, and she has translated Kurosawa's au- tobiography, which covers the years up to 1950 and has been serialized in the Japanese magazine Shukan Yomz- uri in twenty-five installments. Kuro- sawa, somewhat formal and stiff in manner, speaks only a few words of English, and Miss Bock is slated to be his official interpreter during his visit. Grilli and Owens are wearing tweed jackets and slacks, and Miss Bock is wearing a white fleecy coat over a beige tailored dress. The three Ameri- cans bow to Kurosawa, and he bows back. Everybody shakes hands. Grilli then gives Miss Nogami a heart- felt hug. "Y oku irasshaimashita, ne," Grilli says. Translation: "Welcome. It's great to have you here" Bows and smiles all around. As they start outside, al1 three Americans say "Dozo" ("Please"), indicating that the Japanese should go first. M ONDAY. 1 P.M. UNITED NATIONS PLAZA HOTEL. ROOM 3701. A two-room suite reserved for Kurosawa is not ready. Three cham- bermaids are working silently at vacuuming, ashtray-emptying, and bedmaking. Kurosawa followed by Grilli, Miss Nogami, Miss Bock, and 51 L E 5 0: 0 o I bellboys carrying luggage that includes a cardboard box tied with a rope, nods politely to the chamber- maids and shows no sign of displeasure at finding the room not ready. He glances briefly at the view: the Chrysler Building. He looks over the furnishings, which are ultra-modern, in beige, and among which is a small bar covered in a kind of fake wolf fur; he gives a faint smile. The two women go off to their own rooms, and Kurosawa takes off his jacket and necktie and unbuttons his shirt collar, then sits down with Grilli to look over the schedule of activities for the retrospective. Tuesday: 6 P.M. Dinner at Japan House, with Japan Society directors and special guests. 8 P.M. Opening of Kurosawa Retrospec- tive with screening of "Throne of BI d " ( " K . " ) F . 00 umonosu-Jo. ranCIS Coppola will introduce Mr Kurosawa. Mr. Kurosawa will intro- duce the film. ReceptIon in Mr. Kurosawa's honor fol- lowing the film. Wednesday: 9:45 A.M. Japan House-Kurosawa photo portrait session with Arnold Newman for cover of Knopf autobi- ography. 12 NOON Press luncheon at Japan House-Stanley Kauffman presiding. 3 P.M. Dick Cavett TV interview Thursday: 6:45 P.M. William Friedkin dinner, for Mr. Kurosawa, at his midtown apart- ment. Friday: 10 A.M. SpecIal screening of "Ikiru" for members of the Film Directors Guild, with open discussion with Mr. Kurosa wa. 7:30 P.M. Public Opening of Kurosawa Retrospective-screening of "Y ojim- b " o. '.- ; ..,. .. f Kurosawa asks Grilli how many people will be at Friedkin's dinner party. About twenty-five, Grilli says, and he starts naming them: Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Penn, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Scorsese, Peter Hamill, Linda Ronstadt, Bud Yorkin. Grilli pauses to explain that Bud Yorkin is a very successful producer and director of